Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji (法隆学問寺), or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, with the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery.

Rebuilt at least 1,300 years ago, the Kondō (main hall) is widely recognized as the world's oldest wooden building.

[2] Excavations done in 1939 confirmed that Prince Shotoku's palace, the Ikaruga-no-miya (斑鳩宮), occupied the eastern part of the current temple complex, where the Tō-in (東院) sits today.

[6] The original temple, named by modern historians and archaeologists Wakakusa-garan (若草伽藍), was lost, probably burned to the ground after being hit by lightning in 670.

[8] During the Kamakura period, as the cult of Shōtoku rose to prominence in Japan, Hōryū-ji became an important site for veneration of the long-dead prince.

The Kamakura and early Heian period also brought new additions to Hōryū-ji, including the dedication of several new halls in the Eastern and Western compounds to venerate the Prince as the incarnation of the bodhisattva Kannon.

[10] Beginning in the early years of the Meiji period, significant political shifts in Japan brought new challenges for Hōryū-ji.

When the seat of the Hossō sect, Kōfuku-ji, was shut down for a time during the Meiji restoration, Hōryū-ji became affiliated with Shingon Buddhism.

[11] Due to the lack of resources during the early Meiji period, the monks at Hōryū-ji decided to donate many of the temple's treasures for museum display.

[13] The project was interrupted during the Second World War, when large portions of the temple itself were dismantled and hidden in the hills surrounding Nara.

During the restoration, older paintings of the temple were used to determine the original layout of the complex, and many of the living quarters built during the intervening years were demolished.

The reconstructed buildings embrace significant cultural influences from the Three Kingdoms of Korea, particularly those of Baekje,[15] from Eastern Han to Northern Wei of China,[16] as well as from ancient Greek architecture, especially on the columns.

[20] The five-story pagoda, located in Sai-in area, stands at 32.45 meters in height (122 feet) and is one of the oldest extant wooden buildings in the world.

This was added later in the Nara period with extra posts to hold up the original first roof because it extended more than four meters past the building.

As a result of the restoration (completed in 1954), it is estimated that about fifteen to twenty percent of the original seventh century Kondo materials is left in the current building, while the charred members were carefully removed and rebuilt to a separate fireproof warehouse for future research.

[22][24][25] Through a recent dendrochronological analysis carried out using the materials preserved during the restorations done in the 1950s, it has turned out that some of them were felled prior to 670, suggesting a possibility that the current kondō was already under construction when "the fire in 670", as recorded in the Nihon Shoki, burned the former Wakakusa-garan down.

[26] The hall holds the famous Shaka Triad, together with a bronze Yakushi and Amida Nyorai statues, and other national treasures.

Yumedono is one of the main constructions in the Tō-in area, built on the ground which was once Prince Shōtoku's private palace, Ikaruga no miya.

While frontality is a prominent characteristic of the Shaka Triad by Tori Busshi, the Kudara Kannon is intended to be viewed at an angle.

[31][32] The statue is carved from Camphora officinarum (a species of evergreen tree that is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, India, and Vietnam), which was a typical medium for Japanese Buddhist sculptures in the 7th century.

The base of the statue and the water bottle it holds are made of Japanese hinoki cypress, a species endemic to Japan.

Twenty small wall paintings, unscathed from the 1949 fire, are in their original places, while reproductions have replaced the damaged sections.

It is generally believed that the paintings on the large walls represent the Pure Land (浄土 jōdo) with Shaka, Amida, Miroku and Yakushi Nyorai Buddhas.

Some of the artistic choices, including the way the robes are modeled, are similar to murals found in Ajanta Caves (India) or Dunhuang (China).

The back of the dais depicts Mount Sumeru, and the right side shows a scene from the Nirvana Sutra, where the Buddha offers his life in return for more of the sacred teachings, before being caught in his plummet by Indra.

On the left side is a scene from the Golden Light Sutra of a bodhisattva removing his upper garments before casting himself from a cliff to feed a hungry tigress and her cubs.

The statue was considered sacred and was never seen until it was unwrapped at the demand of Ernest Fenollosa, who was charged by the Japanese government to catalogue the art of the country.

The Nihon Shoki records the arrival of a carpenter and a buddhist sculptor in 577, along with the monks, from Baekje to Japan in order to build temples locally.